and george w. bush and laura, they sent their regrets. their thoughts, they say, are with the obamas, but they stayed back in texas as well. soledad? >> all right. john berman, thank you very much. i want to show folks where john is. you can see the media platform or the many platforms where the media is is right up there. you can see how close that is over to the capitol, very, very close. really, john and i, when we're up there, have one of the best seats in the house. the capitol, some of the best seats are right here. all these different sections then straight back, look straight back. you can see 200,000 -- 800,000 people on the mall. we'll get right to brianna keilar, who is at st. john's church, with an update from there. >> reporter: you're looking at right behind me michelle obama getting out of the beast, as we know it, the presidential limousine, meeting president obama on the other side of it, as they await other members of the first family. i can see off to the right, the first lady's mother, marion robinson, and you see sash